This Woman Ripped Off Her Cornea When She Took Out Her Contact Lenses

We've all had days when we've left our contact lenses in for 10, 12, or even (eek) 24 hours. Unfortunately, that can lead to major issues.

Case in point: According to The Mirror, 23-year-old Meabh McHugh-Hill ripped off her cornea—yes, as in the surface of her eyeball—when she removed her contacts after having them in for 10 hours. Besides the excruciating pain, an eye injury like that can cause total loss of vision and can even require a corneal transplant. Yikes. "I suffered a week of unbearable pain," Meabh tells The Mirror. Luckily, she says her vision is now OK (but she still has eye sensitivity). Here's what her eye looked like:

cornea-2.jpg

"The reason this happened is actually pretty straightforward," says Niket Sonpal, MD, an assistant clinical professor at Touro Osteopathic College of Medicine in New York. "This is a pretty rare occurrence, so when it does happen, it's due to user error, to put it gently."

Here's the deal: When you wear your contacts for hours, a few things happen. Protein deposits build up on your lenses, your eyes get a reduced supply of oxygen, and the surface of the eyes starts to dry out. As the eyes get drier, a contact lens is more likely to get "glued" to the surface of your eye, as was the case with Meabh. If the lens is stuck and you try to force it out like she did, you can do serious cornea damage.

So how do you prevent this kind of eye horror story? Step one is to actually listen to your eye doctor when she tells you not to wear your lenses longer than the specified amount for your brand (usually between 8 and 12 hours). Second, if you're prone to dry eyes, it's not a bad idea to rehydrate with some contact solution or moisturizing drops throughout the day. And finally, don't ever (ever!) sleep in your contacts—your eyes tend to get drier at night, so you're more likely to wake up with a sticky situation.

Now, we do live in the real world, after all—and 14-hour days can happen. "If your lenses aren't coming off, stop right away and rehydrate the lens with contact solution or eye drops," says Sonpal. "Wait a few minutes and let the eye create its own tears, and then the lens will become soft again." If it's still stuck, do not try to force it. Call your eye doc and make an emergency appointment. She can help rehydrate the eye so that you can get the lens off sans major damage. "In this case, prevention is literally worth a pound of cure," says Sonpal. And if you do feel a sharp pain when you remove your contact lens, you should also head to your doctor ASAP so she can determine which treatment is best for you.

Advertising helps us deliver the articles you love at no charge to you

Are you sure you want to log out?

If you are the only person using this device,
there’s no need to log out. Just exit this page
and you won’t have to sign in again. But if
you’re on a public or shared computer, log out
to keep your account secure.